[Diavolo and Suzume]

"AHAHAHAH!! See, it's just that easy! You wimps just gotta use your heads! With this, our job is almost done. Go and search for the girl in that pile of rubble! We gotta get her back to the boss!"

"Yes, sir!!!"

The primary culprit of the fireball attack was an incredibly tall and muscular man. He was just, in a word… huge. And also appeared to be really violent.

Accompanied by only two underlings, the man gave his command in salvaging their target.

Coming out of the rubble, "You alright, Suzume?" Diavolo asked, to which she nodded in reply. "Yeah."

"Hey, what the heck?! You guys completely destroyed my store!"

The store owner jumped out of the pile. He seemed to have protected himself with an energy shield of sorts and was fine. His store though, not so much.

"I see. As expected, we're doing this again, huh," Diavolo stood up, "You two wait here. I'll deal with this."

"Oh? So you survived that shot. So what? All you did was extend your lifespan for a few more minutes. It won't make a difference."

Diavolo didn't reply to him. Instead, "Say, 'Mister Owner'. I know I haven't purchased this thing yet, but you mind if I test it out on these guys?" he casually asked.

The owner turned to Suzume and as if communicating through only their eyes, she knew what he was asking for. And so, she smiled and nodded.

"Very well. If you can manage victory, then the weapon is rightfully yours. However, if you break it, I'll have you pay for my entire store, okay?"

"Hehe!" the silver haired boy rolled up his sleeve, "That's a pretty hard bargain you place. Gotta make sure I win then, huh!"

"Oy! Don't just ignore me!" the leader yelled.

And pointing his new katana at him, "Enough talk, lets fight!" Diavolo charged.

"HAHAHA! You think you can just simply charge in at me? Defeat these guys first and prove you're worthy! Hey, you twerps! Attack!!"

They seemed to hesitate a little, but nonetheless, obeyed their command.

Muttering, "You guys aren't worth my time," Diavolo ended up defeating them almost instantly.

Diavolo had no room to be lax. Now that he knew the circumstances, holding back would only cause his death. What he experienced last time was still a mystery to him, but he couldn't depend on such a miracle to happen again.

And so, he faced them, not as opponents to be defeated, but creatures to be hunted down. There could only be one victor.

As if the sword had belonged to him for a long time, he swiftly cut them down and rendered them unable to fight. But of course, he who didn't have any particular fighting style, moved on his instincts yet again.

In this case, one could say it was the hesitation of the men that dulled their performance. Hence the sword not only cut them, but also fractured some of their limb and rib bones.

"Come at me!" he declared standing amongst the writhing bodies.

The man giggled, "Interesting…" and gave an evil smile. Saying thus, the man released his energy.

An alarm rang through Suzume's head, "Diavolo-kun, be careful! He's not like the others! He's at a completely different level!"

"I thought as much. Unlike the ones before, he's the real deal. That definitely isn't Natura," he said.

"Then why don't you realize that you're going to get killed?! Idiot! No matter how you look at it, this man is experienced with Raze! You don't have a single handicap here!"

The look on her face exposed her thoughts. "Don't worry. I'll beat this guy up and we'll go back home. I promise," and he too, unleashed his Raze.

The man grabbed his weapon from his back. A quite peculiar piece of work. Two axe blades, each the size of an average torso, joined together by short rods in the form of a cross, which acted as its handle. It looked quite heavy and difficult to handle, but perhaps, for this man, this was the optimal type of weapon.

He spun the weapon with one hand like it was no big deal, and concentrated his energy into it. The mere sound it made with the wind made it seem like it could do an incredible amount of damage.

"You gonna keep showing off? I don't have all day," Diavolo provoked.

"Heh! Cocky bastard. I will end you!!!"

The two charged at each other.

One slash. CLANG! And Diavolo lost his footing.

"What the—!!"

That was just how strong the man's hit was. Not even a full powered attack was able to fend him off. If Diavolo didn't have the sword, that weapon could've perhaps cleaved right through his arm and body.

He needed some time to rethink his position, and so, before his knee touched the ground, he pushed himself back.

Looking down at his new katana, he saw something dreadful. The part where the weapons clashed, was slightly dented, no, burnt as well.

That's right, this man used a giant fireball to destroy the store. So he must be able to use flames just like he himself did.

"Hey, what happened? I was told that you could use fire, but are you looking down on me? I expected something better in that heated moment, dammit!"

"Tch!" Diavolo clicked his tongue. He was in a tight spot. But it just got worse.

"I wanted to induce some despair into you since I'm basically your worst match. Whatever, I'll just do it anyway!"

Worst match? That was when Diavolo recalled it. They were to send countermeasures for him in their next assault. The only thing that could counter fire would be… "Don't tell me!!"

"YOU GUESSED RIGHT!"

『☆ Anti-Unit Offensive Technique; Variant Voyd: Steam』

"『X GEYSER』!!!" he spun the weapon in front of him at tremendous speeds and an enormous amount of boiling water gushed out.

This was Diavolo's first time seeing it. This man created water out of nothing but his energy. A seemingly unbelievable phenomenon. Having seen something so unexpected, he lost his concentration for a moment.

But the water, of course, kept coming at him at an incredible speed and pressure.

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"Shit! I can't dodge that!" and he thought of taking a defensive position.

He almost forgot that he had a weapon now. Realizing this, he thought of trying something out.

Blocking probably wouldn't be a good idea. Trying to utterly boil away the upcoming water with his own destructive fire would be a reckless move.

But he had yet to imbue the weapon with his Raze. If he did so, maybe he could split the water stream.

It was worth a try, and that's what he did. Pointing the katana forward, he poured in as much energy as he could in a few instances. However… the sword did not respond.

"What?! It rejected my energy?! Why?!"

This won't do. His plan failed. Diavolo was someone who could not plan ahead. As such, contrasting himself, he was a fan of detective stories where he looked up to the main characters. He'd try to imitate them when he was young, but most of the cases failed. The very few which he did solve were either meager issues or coincidences.

No matter how much he tried, he just could not plan ahead. He was the 'spur of the moment' kind of person. This… was such an example. Coming up with ideas and trying to implement them immediately without early practice. It was his luck that prevented severe consequences for such recklessness. But it seemed that his luck had run out.

What to do? What now? He brainstormed as much as possible as the stream was less than a second away from impact.

However, the next move froze him in his thoughts.

"SURPRISE!!!"

Gachak!

Just before the geyser attack landed, the user himself emerged from within the stream, and… cleaved his weapon right into Diavolo's body.

Unimaginable pain rushed through his nerves, into his brain, and as the body's way of safety, the appearance of the eyes of a dead fish signalled his immediate loss of consciousness.

"DIAVOLO-KUN!!!" the subject of this mission shouted.

"GAAHAHAHAHA!!! I DID IT! THIS WAS SO EASY!!! WHY DID THOSE GUYS EVEN BOTHER SENDING SOMEONE LIKE ME AGAINST HIM!! WHAT A JOKE!"

Despair filled Suzume's heart as she looked at the outcome. The store owner simply looked down. It is unfortunate, was what his face said. This boy was not the one he thought he was after all.

"Now… to claim my prize…" and he made his way towards the destroyed store.

Immense sorrow flooded her. But more than that, rage. She once again thought of unleashing her 'berserk mode' but rethought her decisions since she didn't want to end up hurting the store owner as well. But more importantly, destroy Diavolo's body. Frustration. She felt frustration.

The sad part was that, unlike before, the poor Diavolo couldn't even sense what was going on around him anymore. Not a single thing.

His body simply lay there, as his blood flooded his clothes, the ground and his sword. The residual force from the geyser attack was not enough to wash the blood away. Although, if it weren't for his blood, the undigested matter in his belly would be distinctly visible.

Having been cut off from the outside world, a different scene played out within Diavolo's quiet mind.

"Oh, so it's this again? Am I gonna come here every time I fall unconscious?"

He was standing in the exact same realm as last time. A small area shrouded in darkness, with nothing but a large door, no, a cracked door towards the side.

"But why am I here again? Aah~ I can't remember!" he had trouble recalling the events in the real world that lead to this outcome.

"Ah well. If I'm here, it probably can't be anything good. Just need to crack the door again, right?" was the conclusion he came to.

He extended his hand to touch the door, but he couldn't feel it.

"Huh?"

He tried rubbing his fingers over it, but it didn't do anything. Rather, his hand started to become transparent and fade away.

"What the—! What's going on?!"

As the fading progressed up his arm, things got worse as the ground beneath him started to crack rather than the door.

"This wasn't how it happened last time! Just what the hell is this??!!"

His answers were revealed as an excruciating pain coursed through his being.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

And the memories came back all at once.

He was fighting a really strong guy, and he was defeated. That man's weapon had cleaved right through him with ease. And his final memory was a very brief, but unbearably strong pain.

He wanted to throw up, and vomiting might've helped him calm down, but that wasn't going to happen. This was not his physical body, but a mental reconstruction of himself within himself. Throwing up wasn't going to work, and thus, Diavolo simply experienced that last instant of pain on repeat.

"No way! Am I actually… dying?!"

He got it right. Panic struck him as he desperately tried his best to hit the door.

"SHIT! OPEN UP!!! COME ONE! BREAK ALREADY!!!"

One, two, three, four. He kept punching nonstop, but to no avail. No matter how hard he hit it, the door didn't even vibrate, let alone crack.

"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!!!"

People don't really know what it's like to die. Some say it might actually be peaceful. But that was not what Diavolo was going through.

Pain, regret, frustration, sorrow, emptiness, anger, desperation, and the list kept going on. To many, death always comes unexpectedly. But if it was to swing its scythe at such a critical time like this, nobody would be able to rest in peace.

"HEY, WOMAN!! WHERE ARE YOU?!! ISN'T THERE SOMETHING I CAN DO?!!! HEY!!!!!"

He desperately called for the formless voice that aided him last time. Of course, there was no reply. The only phenomena, were his body turning more and more transparent and the ground crumbling into nothingness.

However, Diavolo's mind was in such turmoil, that he didn't even notice the 'thing' approaching him.

In this 'inner realm' of Diavolo, there was this door in front of him. And behind him, was utter darkness. And from within the deepest regions of that darkness, slowly crept a creature.

No, it was actually energy. A red, liquid-like energy that moved as if it had life. Crawling its way like a slime, with its source indeterminable, it enveloped this mental reconstruction of Diavolo.

"WHAT NOW?!" he let out as tears filled the tip of his eyes.

Contrary to his thoughts, however, that energy was not meant to bring further demise. Once it had enveloped him, it was actually bringing the 'color' back to his body. And once his fading body was finally repaired, he felt it. Just one word rang in his mind: 'Beast'.

However, it was not the time to be amazed. Somewhat regaining his cool, he understood that this energy too, wouldn't be able to hold out for much longer. Thus, he decided to continue what he was doing till now.

"Guess this is all or nothing… HAAAA!!!" and he punched the door.

Meanwhile, outside, the assailant leader continued making his way towards Suzume. But halfway there, he was interrupted… by the entire area lighting up!

He froze in his place as he looked at the girl and old man in front of him staring blankly at something huge behind him. On his back, he also felt something… heat.

He turned around. It was so bright that his pupils needed to contract to its smallest possible size. And squinting as much as he could, he witnessed a great fire pillar that reached the skies.

Ten, twenty, thirty… it probably reached all the way up to fifty meters.

And within the vortex of this pillar, was a fully conscious Diavolo, more than ready to fight. His ripped and bloody clothes were still ripped and bloody. His eyes were red. And his sword… was no longer a katana.

The handle was still braided, but the thin oblong grip was slightly thicker to match the change of the blade itself. The guard had two wings, one on either side, one pointing up and the other pointing down; and in the middle, was the head of a reptilian creature. Perhaps the likes of a dragon or a wyvern.

The blade was now wider, and was carved in a fancier shape, not like traditional one sided blades. Although it was shaped like a one sided blade, its blunt side was also quite sharp. Its colour was a glossy, red tinted black; along with detailed bright red patterns engraved on it.

Diavolo glanced at his transformed weapon, "Was that… you?" he mentally asked it as if from a far away place.

But what was most surprising, was neither the pillar, nor his revival, nor the awakened sword. It was his cleaved stomach. Flames were enveloping his wounds, but were somehow not burning him.

If creating a great quantity of water by pure energy seemed like magic, then what was happening to Diavolo would be a miracle. Because those flames… were acting as replacements for his damaged organs. He did not feel the pain anymore.

The assailant did not notice himself trembling as he stared awestruck at Diavolo's appearance. Beautiful raging flames reaching up to the heavens, surrounding a fearless man at its center was truly a sight to behold.

Currently, this technique was merely an energy discharge and unnamed. But later on, this would turn into one of Diavolo's key attacks.

『☆ Anti-Militia Offensive Technique; Material Raze: Plasma; Fire Pillar』

The embodiment of rage had once again awakened. And this time, far stronger than before!

"You did quite the number on me. I probably won't forget the pain for the rest of my life…"

"Heh! Serves you right!" the man let out an empty taunt. Behind him, was the smirking store owner and a crying Suzume.

"Now it's my turn to return the favour… PREPARE YOURSELF!!!"